Dealing With Injuries While Traveling

Vacations are something that most families look forward to. They save up money, plan carefully, and watch the anticipation build as the departure date approaches. They expect to come home with some great souvenirs, some amazing memories, and maybe a little sunburn.

What they don’t expect to come home with is an injury, but unfortunately, it happens. The opportunities for an injury are numerous when we travel. It begins the moment we walk out of our house and doesn’t end until we get back home.

The road is the most likely place. We’re covering hundreds or even thousands of miles, and with every one, we run the risk of encountering a reckless, impaired, or distracted driver whose careless actions can lead to a collision. But the risk doesn’t end there. The places we visit, eat, shop, and stay can all be the scene of an accident caused by the management or even by other visitors.

Whatever the particular details, let’s think about the unthinkable and pretend that someone in your family has been hurt by the negligence of someone you encounter on your trip. What are the steps you need to take to get things back to normal as quickly as possible? Keep these steps in mind.

Get Medical Help First

This may seem obvious, but it can be very easy to get distracted from this step. Injuries that may seem minor can be easy to ignore, especially when the next sightseeing tour starts in 20 minutes. But failure to seek medical help at the time of injury can jeopardize your recovery.

Schwartzapfel Lawyers, a Garden City, NY personal injury law firm urges their clients to get a full and complete understanding of their injuries before they do anything else. This is the only way that you can be fully compensated for any and all injuries you may have sustained.

Document Events

Time is your enemy. You must act quickly to record the situation or you might not get another opportunity. Take photographs of the scene, whether it’s a simple slip-and-fall or a major car accident. Make contact with any police officers, management staff, investigators, or other pertinent people before you leave the scene. Make sure you can reach them in the future.

Get witnesses. People are generally helpful, but they won’t stand around indefinitely waiting for you to talk to them. See if they will write down a quick statement of what they saw so that you can document everything before their memories fade. Have them sign the statement with the date and time to establish credibility. Grab their phone numbers and names quickly so that your report of events can be independently verified.

Get Legal Help

Now that you have things together, it’s time to talk to a lawyer. This step should be undertaken as soon as there is one legal adult in the family who can take action. That may take place right in the emergency room; the sooner, the better. Your quick action to document things as we’ve just described will help, but it is no substitute for the skilled actions of an experienced attorney. Get someone on your case as soon as there is a case.

Remember to get local representation. Don’t call the family barrister back home. He or she won’t be able to handle a case hundreds of miles away. Check local resources and see who you can find in the area. Not only will a local attorney have lower costs, he or she will also have experience with similar cases that may be unique to that particular destination.

Nobody likes to think about what might ruin their vacation, but we should all think about what we will do if something does. An injury is one of those worst-case scenarios, and you need to take a little time to think about what to do if that unfortunate situation develops. It’s the best way to be sure you’ll bounce back quickly.

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